The Gordon Research Conference on Biological Regulatory Mechanisms is a unique meeting in its content and its attendees. This meeting assembles a diverse collection of excellent scientists who are interested in a variety of global cellular regulatory mechanisms, and each of them works at the very frontiers of modern biology in academia, industry or for the government. Work in many types of organisms is represented (both prokaryotic and eukaryotic), and the juxtaposition of experts working with both prokaryotes and eukaryotes allows a rigorous discussion of similarities and differences. Very few meetings provide a forum for interactions among scientists working on similar regulatory questions in such diverse organisms. The program of this year's meeting includes biological regulatory phenomena which are of broad interest, but more important they are very topical. The meeting will open with a session on transcriptional regulatory mechanisms which will include not only initiation but also elongation and termination. Latest work on signals and molecular components in cell cycle regulation will be presented in another session. There will be two sessions on how macromolecules are sorted and stabilized (or destabilized) to regulate their functions. Another session will look at intracellular macromolecular changes in response to environmental stress. Organismal as well as cellular signalling will be covered in a session on morphogenesis and regeneration, a session on mating behavior, and a session on sensing and thinking. Organism:organism interactions will be covered in a session on parasites, pathogens, and symbionts. Each of these sessions will include studies carried out with both prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms. The conference format encourages interaction among scientists who work on very different questions and organisms. Each morning session will have four or five speakers, and each evening session will have three or four speakers. Poster sessions will be held on four of the afternoons to allow many more persons in addition to the speakers to present their work. This poster format promotes intense discussion of data and ideas as well as allows presentation of data that is "hot off the press." Scientists from the U.S. and foreign countries attend this meeting, and we request partial support of the expenses of these attendees. The Gordon Research Conference can only partially cover the total travel and on-site expenses incurred, and additional funding is required to maintain the high quality of this meeting.